Clandestines-criminals or victims?

Malta’s much lauded position as the geographical centre of the Mediterranean has also placed it at the centre of the mushrooming trade in human trafficking.

The fact that there is a thriving human smuggling business in the Mediterranean, out of which ruthless individuals rake in large profits by taking advantage of the despair of poverty-stricken people looking for a better life, cannot be placed in doubt. Neither can the fact that Malta’s strategic position between the coasts of North Africa and Italy – respectively the primary starting point and end destination of most clandestines – frequently puts Malta in the spotlight.

As we have witnessed repeatedly in the past and even the more recent past, Malta’s role in human trafficking ring activities varies, but the country’s geographical position invariably plays an integral role. Meanwhile, the number of those passing by or through Malta in search of a better life is only to increase as the populations of the poverty-stricken countries of Africa increase at a much quicker rate than the countries’ economic development.

At times Malta becomes involved by chance, as had happened just this month when 208 men, women and children came ashore in Gozo after the 13-metre launch they hoped would bring them to new lives on Italy’s shores ran out of petrol and drifted into Xlendi.

In other instances, Maltese nationals have been directly involved in trafficking activities, often with horrific results. Last summer Maltese traffickers were accused of bludgeoning clandestines within view of their ‘promised land’ - the Sicilian shoreline - and throwing them to their deaths in the dark night water, despite their protestations of not knowing how to swim.

Maltese operating in the dirty trade were also involved in the single-worst immigrant disaster in the Mediterranean, when 283 hopeful immigrants drowned in the Malta-Sicily channel shortly after Christmas in 1996.

The issue of illegal immigrants is one of the biggest problems facing the European continent, which is seen as the ticket to a better life by millions of impoverished families in the third world. And in light of international conventions, asylum seekers who claim they are fleeing persecution have a better chance of being given permission to stay in the country they have entered illegally as refugees.

Due to its position along one of the world’s oldest trade routes, Malta now has to deal with this problem and has accordingly increased coastguard patrols in an effort to keep boats carrying immigrants away.

But many still get past the radar controls and the coastguard patrols and those that do should not be treated like common criminals and be thrown into a police cell until the government finds a country to send them to. There must be special centres set up with basic facilities for accommodating such people until their applications for asylum are processed and it is decided what to do with them.

Standard procedures and guidelines for dealing with apprehended clandestines must be put in place. As such, the government needs to have some way of dealing with illegal immigrants because this is not a problem that is likely to disappear overnight.

In 2000 more than 2,500 would-be immigrants died trying to get into Europe. That is many dead, but not many immigrants for a continent of more than 350 million people. Thousands more undoubtedly make it to Europe successfully.

But who exactly are the authorities fighting? The determined, tiny minority of men, women and children from mostly poor countries who will continue to strive for a better life for themselves and their families no matter what, or the criminals who profit from their situations?

There is a general consensus that the traffickers themselves should be punished for their activities, whether their practices have led to the death of clandestines or to their safe passage to Europe. To this end, Parliament recently approved a clause raising the penalty for those involved in human trafficking from a six-month jail term to a five-year term and/or a Lm10,000 fine.

However, until some time ago illegal immigrants finding themselves in Malta were – like common criminals - placed for months at a time in prison or in cells at police depots, which are designed for accommodation of two days.

In light of the previously existing situation, the Council of Europe on two separate occasions had appealed to the government to adopt an alternative policy. The Council’s conviction is that such illegal immigrants should not be considered or treated as criminals.

The authorities appear to be following this line of thought and recently opened a new refugee centre in Hal Far. Speaking about the new centre, Police Commissioner John Rizzo was adamant that illegal immigrants are not prisoners and that, as such, they should be kept in a state of semi-liberty during their stay in Malta.

The Hal Far centre, although by no means a holiday resort, is moderately comfortable and generally appears to reflect the balance of humanity and severity required for the situation. The centre is divided into three wings, which are able to accommodate some 75 detainees. Facilities at the centre include a spacious common room with telephone and television facilities, a small room where detainees are able to hold private meetings with clergy or lawyers and a courtyard where they are able to exercise.

However, all illegal immigrants to Malta are, to some extent, treated as criminals under the law’s current provisions. Under the law, the authorities cannot hold anyone in custody for more than 48 hours without charging them in court. Even the police commissioner, speaking on the plight of the 208 clandestines who landed in Gozo recently, said that he would have preferred repatriating the illegal immigrants without putting them through the ordeal of the courts, but, he explained, the police did not want to end up on the wrong side of the law themselves by holding them without charge.

We must bear in mind that the immigrants that find their way to Maltese shores are generally not looking to settle in Malta and are normally simply in transit to Europe.

Yes, the central victims are the men and women who escape their countries and frequently die in the process. But we would be foolish to think that we could allow these deaths to happen and remain untouched, as we are by so many atrocities in the far corners of the world, which our sheltered lives prevent us from empathising with.